Short-handed Lake Zurich beats Zion-Benton

Lake Zurich's girls basketball team is learning to play - and win - without its senior star.

Minnesota Duluth-bound guard Ella Gilbertson missed her fourth game in a row on Tuesday night, when the Bears hosted Zion-Benton in North Suburban Conference action. Lake Zurich won 43-39, as Alayna Soukup scored 22 points.

Gilbertson (14.6 ppg) recently suffered a high-ankle sprain, which could cause her to miss the rest of the regular season.

"All she did was step on a foot. Nothing more," Bears coach Chris Bennett said. "Doctor said 3-4 weeks. Our trainer is working hard to get her back for the playoffs."

Lake Zurich improved to 13-8 and 7-2 in the NSC.

Soukup went 15 of 15 from the foul line. She went 10 of 10 in the fourth quarter.

Streamwood 58, Round Lake 31: On Monday night, the host Sabres snapped the Panthers' season-best three-game winning streak in nonconference action.

Amari Cole had 7 points for Round Lake, which fell to 6-18.

Johnsburg 51, Grant 35: On Monday night, Jazzlyn Linbo scored 13 points for the host Bulldogs in the nonconference game.

Grant (12-11), which has lost four in a row for the first time this season, also received 8 points from Kylie Whyte. The Bulldogs visit Antioch on Wednesday night.

Boys basketball

Grant Hardy scored a game-high 12 points, and Grayslake Central's boys basketball team defeated host Antioch 49-32 on Tuesday night to take over sole possession of first place in the Northern Lake County Conference.

Ethan Boelens added 10 points for the Rams (11-8, 5-1), who won their sixth game in a row. Wauconda losing to Round Lake allowed Grayslake Central to move into sole possession of first place in the conference.

Freshman Jordan DeVaughn led Antioch (9-8, 2-3) with 9 points.

Carmel 76, Milwaukee Collegiate Academy 50: In Milwaukee, Bryce Moore scored a career-high 29 points for the visiting Corsairs.

Kimahri Wilson added 13 points for Carmel (12-10).

Maine West 60, Niles West 49: Maine West had the right formula against Niles West in Des Plaines Tuesday night.

Seniors Jacob Riedl had a strong start, A.J. Ross a strong finish, and Jared Pearson a steady performance in the Warriors' 60-49 win in a Central Suburban League boys basketball crossover.

Pearson led Maine West in scoring with 20 points, Riedl had 13 points to go with 6 rebounds and Ross scored 11 points, 8 of which came in the critical fourth quarter.

"It was a good win for us," said Maine West coach Tom Prokopij. "Any win is a good win in late January and we beat a sectional opponent."

The Warriors improved to 8-12 while the Wolves fell a game below .500 at 11-12.

"We started out slow," said Ross. "But once we started working our defense a little more we were able to get some stops and it helped the offense."

Niles West's Lucas Vidrean scored 11 of his team-high 15 points in the first half. Seven points that he scored in the first quarter gave the Wolves a 16-10 lead at quarter's end.

Riedl kept Maine West in the game by scoring 8 points.

An 8-0 run helped the Warriors gain a 19-18 lead on Lucas Glaister's only basket. Maine West clung to a 24-22 halftime lead.

Pearson started heating up in the third quarter connecting on three 3-pointers, one of which gave Maine West the lead for good at 32-30 with 1:38 left in the quarter.

Holding on to a 42-41 lead after the Wolves' Haris Mackic scored with 5:20 left in the game Ross began to come through.

Maine West went on a 10-0 run for a 52-41 lead with 2:38 left in the game.

Ross hit for a 3-pointer, Daniel Prieto echoed that, and Ross hit another long range shot. Riedl finished with 1 of 2 free throws.

"Ross had a shooting slump about midseason around Christmastime," said Prokopij. > The last two games he's shot the ball well. We knew he would break out of it. It was just a matter of time."

The Warriors connected on 10 of 18 from beyond the arc.

"I shoot when I'm open and have the opportunity," said Ross. "Coach loves us shooting 3s. We're a smaller team but we can all shoot."

Riedl has turned summer work and work in practice into earning a starting spot.

"I worked my way into playing time by playing good defense," said Riedl. "Last year I picked up some real good experience. I scored early, Pearson was steady and AJ had big points in the fourth quarter. It was a good formula tonight."

"Riedl is steady for us," said Prokopij. "He's is athletic, he rebounds, he can shoot the ball. He takes on other team's bigger players and looks to get others involved."

Glenbrook South 52, Prospect 40: It was a doughnut for Prospect Tuesday.

The Knights played well in the beginning and the end. But the they had nothing in the middle and fell 52-40 to Glenbrook South in a nonconference boys basketball game in Mount Prospect.

"Credit a lot of that to Glenbrook South," Prospect coach John Camardella said. "We had that dry spell and that didn't help."

Prospect (10-10) jumped out to an 8-2 lead early in the first quarter. That's when it became quite arid for the Knights.

Prospect would miss its next 9 shots and turn the ball over four times as the Knights went scoreless for the next 9:01.

Meanwhile Glenbrook South (19-3) began to find its mark. Led by Don Martinelli, who would finish with 31 points, the Titans would score 18 unanswered points to pull ahead 20-8 midway through the second quarter.

Prospect finally got its groove back when Marco Shaw canned a pair of 3-pointers as the Knights cut the lead to 6 at 20-14. But they would never get closer.

Martinell dropped in a pair of 3-pointers in the third quarter and followed with a basket and Glenbrook South's lead went to 37-31 late in the period.

"I try to use my teammates and get them baskets first and try to open up for myself," said Martinelli, who would convert 15-of-17 free throws. "I try to get to the free-throw line and I thought I did that pretty well."

Despite being down 16, Prospect began to push the ball better toward the hoop. With Matt Woloch, among others, attacking the basket, Prospect closed to 43-37 with 2:48 to play on a put back by Woloch.

The Titans then tried to keep the ball in Martinelli's hands. The senior delivered 5 free throws down the stretch to put the game away.

"We weathered the storm here," Glenbrook South coach Phil Ralston said. "They were very physical defensively. I told the kids we had to match their intensity and I thought by and large we did that."

Woloch led Prospect with 13 points, 8 of which came in the final quarter. Shaw had 8 points, Chase Larsen 7 and Brian Dini 6 points and 6 rebounds.

"There were a lot of things in our control," Camaradella said." As a staff, we've got to stay on out guys. Our body language needs to get better. Our court awareness needs to get better and our actions need to get better. That was the message to the team in the locker room."

Camaradella said he is looking for his team to make more shots.

"We shot better in the second half," Camardella said. "But when the ball is not going in and we are missing all those layups in consecutive possessions it makes it hard to compete against some of the state's top teams."

- Dick Quagliano